None Left to Tell

The narrative shifts to Katrina Huff on the first day of the siege at Mountain Meadows. The emigrants are trapped in a defensive circle of wagons, pinned down by snipers hidden along a river. They have dug a large trench for cover. Nine members of their party, including America Dunlap and Josiah Miller, are dead, and five men, including Katrina’s brother-in-law Uri, are wounded. Their water supply is nearly gone, as they had planned to replenish it from the river that morning. The cattle have been driven off. Katrina huddles in the trench with three of her children, Mary, William, and Nancy, and her sister-in-law Louisa. Meanwhile, Katrina’s son James remains with the men on the firing line. From her position, Katrina spots a lone, unidentified horseman watching them from a high ridge.

Hours pass in the trench under the relentless sun. The children are suffering from thirst. Hampton, son of Captain Fancher, brings a collapsed Uri to Katrina and the other women. Uri’s shoulder wound is severe, and he is losing strength. Hampton promises to stay with James on the line of defense. Katrina goes to the two large supply wagons in the center of the camp to find water and fresh bandages. The journey across the open ground is perilous, and a gunshot sounds as she runs.

Katrina reaches the supply wagons and finds Captain Fancher and the other most severely wounded emigrants. Their water barrels have been shot, and the remaining water is being collected in buckets as it leaks out. Captain Fancher, though badly injured, remains resolute, believing the attackers are simply Indigenous raiders trying to steal the emigrants’ cattle and will leave within a day or two. 

Katrina takes a bucket of water and cloth for bandages back to her family in the trench. Later, a sniper shoots and kills one of her oxen, Bright. As the animal dies, Katrina sings a parting song that Peter used to sing.

At the creek, Sally finds one of the exhausted horses has already collapsed, and she is terrified when the second horse falls moments later. Awan runs to help her, explaining the horses drank too much water too quickly after being run to the point of exhaustion, causing their stomachs to twist. Together, they force the horses to their feet and walk them to save their lives. 

Awan reveals that the cattle raid was a disaster, resulting in six wounded and four dead Paiutes. Kanosh has sent for all remaining men to join him at the Meadow. Though Inola had experienced a dream-vision of his death, Awan feels he must obey his father’s summons. Before he leaves, he kisses Sally.

Later that day, the Paiute bring their dead and wounded back to the village. Six bodies are brought back: two who died at the Meadow and four who were injured and perished on the journey home. Sally confirms with relief that Awan is not among them. The four surviving wounded men are in critical condition, and the villagers quickly run out of medical supplies to treat them. 

Sally suggests they seek help from Lucy Robison, revealing to Inola that she can speak English. Inola agrees and tells Sally to bring Lucy a gift.

In Fillmore, Lucy is relieved after a long night helping her neighbor, Sister Johnson, whose sick baby has unexpectedly recovered. Later, Sally and Inola arrive at Lucy’s orchard. Inola presents Lucy with a handmade beaded pouch as a gift for her son Proctor’s recent death. Sally explains that their men are dying from battle wounds and need medicine. Uncertain what to make of the request but willing to help, Lucy agrees and prepares two horses: Her blue mare for herself and a slow, plodding buckskin gelding for Inola and Sally to ride double.

On the second day of the siege, the emigrants’ situation is dire. The attackers continue to shoot their livestock, water is completely gone, and the smell of the unburied dead is overpowering. The emigrants are trapped. That night, Thomas, one of the Dunlap boys, approaches Hampton with a plan to sneak out of the valley: find the Duke wagon train, which they hope is only a few days behind them on the trail, and bring back help. Captain Fancher approves, and the two young men slip away in the dark.

As Lucy, Sally, and Inola ride toward Corn Creek, they are intercepted by a man named Robert Haslam. He is a messenger for high-ranking Mormon leaders John D. Lee and William Dame, carrying an urgent dispatch for Brigham Young in Salt Lake City. He demands Lucy’s fresh horse, showing her an official note requiring all Saints to assist him. Haslam explains that the Paiutes have a gentile wagon train trapped at Mountain Meadows. Relieved that the crisis does not involve the U.S. Army and her husband Vick, Lucy trades her horse. Lucy’s buckskin gelding is then found to be injured from a stone lodged in its hoof, forcing Sally and Lucy to ride double on the slow horse, leaving Inola to walk.

On the ride to Corn Creek, Lucy tells Sally that Haslam’s message is about “your people and the cattle raid” (154). The dismissive phrase angers Sally. At the village, they find the wounded men in a wickiup. Lucy performs a laying-on-of-hands blessing for each man. One of them, Keme, tells Sally in Paiute that the raid turned into a bloody standoff and that both the Mormon leaders and Kanosh are keeping the men in the Meadow. The Mormon leaders fear the emigrants know of their involvement, and thus Kanosh is threatening anyone who tries to leave. Keme is haunted by the number of women and children in the wagon train. 

Later, at the creek, Sally confronts Lucy, telling her that locoweed was what killed the cattle and her son Proctor.

On the third day of the siege, a stray bullet wounds a three-year-old girl. To soothe the terrified children, Katrina recites poetry. That night, Hampton returns alone with a pouch of water. He reports that he and Thomas found a camp of white and Indigenous men. When Thomas approached the fire, he was shot in the leg, got up and ran, then was shot in the back and fell. As Hampton fled, he encountered a young Paiute man who, instead of shooting him, gave him the water and let him go. 

On behalf of his father, Hampton goes to the heads of each family, including Katrina, to summon them for a meeting. He tells them that Captain Fancher has a plan.

Riding home alone after leaving Sally and Inola, Lucy is deeply troubled by Sally’s claims about locoweed and the presence of women and children in the wagon train. She tries to reassure herself that the Mormon leaders are men of God and have the situation under control. 

On the trail, Lucy encounters Robert Haslam again, riding hard. She can barely believe he has covered the distance so quickly and marvels at the speed of his journey. He informs her that the message was successfully delivered to Brigham Young and that “[a]ll is well in the kingdom of God” (171). His words restore Lucy’s faith and ease her mind.

Katrina attends the meeting with Captain Fancher and the other men. Captain Fancher declares that they cannot win the fight and must surrender. He now believes Uri was correct that the Mormons orchestrated the attack. His plan is to raise a white flag of surrender, betting that the Mormons will negotiate to maintain the illusion that the Paiutes acted alone. The emigrants will offer all their valuables in exchange for safe passage. The men agree to the desperate plan. Captain Fancher’s wife, Eliza, bravely volunteers to walk into the open and raise the makeshift flag.

Two white men, identifying themselves as General John D. Lee and Major Isaac Haight of the Mormon militia, ride into the emigrant camp to negotiate the surrender. Lee claims he can guarantee their safety from the Paiutes if they give up all their firearms. After some hesitation, Captain Fancher agrees. 

The plan is set: The youngest children and the wounded will be evacuated first in two wagons. They will be followed by the women and older children on foot. The emigrant men will march last, each one escorted by an armed militiaman.

The surrender begins. The emigrants are organized according to the militia’s plan. Uri, loaded into the wagon for the wounded, is furious, calling the Mormons traitors. The youngest children, including Louisa’s daughter Triphena, are placed in the first wagon. Katrina considers putting her six-year-old daughter Nancy in the wagon but ultimately decides to keep her by her side. As the two wagons begin to move out of the Meadow, the women and other children prepare to follow on foot, hopeful that their ordeal is finally over.

Awan returns to the Paiute village with the other men, including a stone-faced Kanosh. They are all physically unharmed but appear traumatized, their faces blank and haunted. There is no victory celebration; instead, the camp is filled with a heavy, unspoken tension. 

Awan finds Sally at the creek and, with tears in his eyes, confirms her unspoken fears that the emigrants were not troops. He begins to tell her everything that happened at the Meadow.

As the women and children march out of the Meadow, Katrina and Nancy fall toward the back of the group. Suddenly, a Mormon militiaman shouts, “Halt!” The militiamen escorting the emigrant men simultaneously raise their rifles and execute them in a single volley. As the men fall dead, painted attackers swarm from the riverbanks, charging directly toward the defenseless women and children. In the chaos, Katrina feels the presence of her dead husband, Peter, whose voice urges her to run.